Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameRichard Lybbe 'The Sewar' 
[40, 5th Series, Vol III, (1918-19), pp.2 & 3 (Oxon vis'n).], [99, p.9], [56, Berks of 1665-6, pub Harleian 1907, ed W Harry Rylands, p. 229], [56, Oxon of 1566, '74 &1634, pub Harleian 1871, Lybbe p. 174], [56, Hants of 1686, pub Harleian 1991, Andover church, p. 213]
[40, 5th Series, Vol III, (1918-19), pp.2 & 3 (Oxon vis'n).], [99, p.9], [56, Berks of 1665-6, pub Harleian 1907, ed W Harry Rylands, p. 229], [56, Oxon of 1566, '74 &1634, pub Harleian 1871, Lybbe p. 174], [56, Hants of 1686, pub Harleian 1991, Andover church, p. 213]Birthca 1525
Death11 Aug 1599
Burial21 Aug 1599, St Mary the Virgin, Whitchurch, Oxon [19, Whitchurch on Thames]
General1st s. "Servant of Mary Queen of Scots" - Squibb.
FatherRichard Lybbe MP (-1527)
MotherBridget Justice
Spouses
Marriageabt 1572
Notes for Richard Lybbe 'The Sewar'
Martin P-L writes:
RICHARD the Sewar, third child of RICHARD M.P.
c. 1525 born [TFPL: His memorial says he was 74 years old at death.]
1553-58 Queen Mary reigned, to whom Richard, a young man at the time, was Sewar. A sewar was in charge of state meals, a glorified caterer-cum-head waiter. According to the Rev. Slatter, he also accompanied the Queen when hunting. She gave him a pair of gilded iron stirrups, made to accommodate feet in armour. A gentleman from the Gild of Lorimers informed me that the design is Middle Eastern, brought back by Crusaders. I have seen similar stirrups worn by mounted bull-fighters in Portugal. Both stirrups were stolen during the Civil War, but one was evidently recovered, since we have it still. You should have a photo of it with the first edition of this history.
1563 Churchwarden at Whitchurch. On the back of his accounts, as discovered by the Rector in about 1980, he filled a whole page copying out the phrase: Innumerable are the calamities, extremes, annoiances, ingrevances, incommodities and encumbrances wh(ich) evermore accompanneth this mommentarie vale of vannitie. Whether he did this because he was feeling glum, bored or in need of handwriting practice, is not recorded. So that you, however, can practice your reading of secretary hand, I give you this photocopy.
1569 A temporary conveyance of property includes lands in Devon (Tavistock, Tamerton, Lamerton) and Cornwall (St Domenic and Callington), as well as Redinge, New and Old Wyndesor, Whitchurch, Ippesden, North Stoke. But he had frequent lawsuits in connection with these latter properties. In most cases tenants seemed to be suing him, but I have not studied them closely. The
refs. are: 1541 Court of Requests, vol.1, p.132;
1558 Chancery Proceedings, series II, vol.1, pp.56,205,245,246;
1589 Hawe v. Lybbe & Hawe, H.51/16, Chancery Depositions.
c. 1572 married Johane Coker (or Corker, Cockre, Carker, Carter) of Checkenden Oxon. She bore him 10 children and died in 1613. Her will reference is PCC 44 Lawe 1614. There is a copy in the Oxon. Archives.
1574 The principal Visitation. (A herald visited the Lybbes on two other occasions.) From this we know the immediate forebears, their wives and origins. At what time and on what grounds the Lybbes became armigerous, I know not. There is only one child born at the time of this visitation, John. [TFPL, Oct 2013: The printed visitation, published in 1871, has on page 174 two paragraphs which are obviously from different visitations; the first says that Richard of Checkendon and Mary “hath issue John Lybbe, his eldest sonne and heire, and Mary his daughter, both younge”; the second paragraph sters with “Richard Lybbe … son’e and heire of Richard Lybbe, of Checkendon aforesaid, …”. This difference is because, of course, John was born out of wedlock so was not the legal heir. This established that John and Mary were both born by the time of the 1574 visitation.]
1558-1603 Elizabeth reigned. There is no suggestion that Richard suffered from having been a courtier of Bloody Mary (as Sir Thomas Powys suffered from being James II's Attorney General). On the contrary, legend has it that Queen Elizabeth stayed at Hardwick, her bedroom being plastered for this purpose. The ceiling has at its centre a plaster boss showing the Queen, topless. Circling her are, at a respectful distance, other bosses of famous leaders, selected in merry disregard for their dates. They include Julius Caesar and Joshua. Since the Thames was the M4 of its day, it seems at least possible that she stayed there en route to Oxford, say.
1599 He died, and was buried in Whitchurch, with a splendid Elizabethan monument on the wall of the chancel. He and his wife kneel stiffly facing each other. The inscription reads:
Richardus Lybbe
Arm. Dnus de domo ac Manerio Hardwick, sepultus est xi Aug. 1599, fuit e domesticis Mariae Reginae Sewar. Ioanna uxor sepulta 22 Dec. 1613 ex qua sunt geniti duo filii Richardus et Iohannes cum octo filiabus.
Richard has been erroneously termed Sir Richard by some people. I expect this derives from Dnus (Dominus) which can mean Sir. Here, however, it just means lord/master (of the house and manor of Hardwick). Note that John, the elder son, is named second in the above inscription.
His will survives, PCC 75 Kidd 1599, and it is transliterated in Snell's Berkshire Wills. He is described as pr. of Whitchurch, Goring, Chekenden and St Mary's Reading, Maple Durham, Ruely and Ramphiene. [One of you will be inspired to interpret pr. and will let the rest of us know.] He leaves land in North & South Stoke, Chekenden, East Hampstead. [TFPL, Sep 2010: ‘pr’=parishioner.]
Whitchurch Burial Register
"1599 Aug 21 LIB Richard, gent: of Hardwick Manor"
______________________________________________________
In the Oxon visitation of 1566, '74 & 1634, p. 174, he is referred to as:
"Richard Lybb, of Checkendon in Com. Oxon. gent. eldest sonne and heir to Richard maryed Johane, daughter to John Coker of Checkendon, and by her hath yssue John Lybbe, his eldest sonne and heire, and Mary his daughter, both younge."
_______________________________________________________
TFPL, Sep 2004, Found on Ancestry.com:
England: Canterbury - Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1584-1604
1584 to 1604.
County: General
Country: England
1599 Lybbe, Richard, gent., Hardwick, Oxon 75 Kidd
_____________________
In “The names of the nobility, etc who contributed to the defence of this country at the time of the Spanish invasion in 1588”, pub 1798, there is, p. 46:
OXON
...
March ... Richard Lybbe 9 die Marcii . . . 50l
_____________________
RICHARD the Sewar, third child of RICHARD M.P.
c. 1525 born [TFPL: His memorial says he was 74 years old at death.]
1553-58 Queen Mary reigned, to whom Richard, a young man at the time, was Sewar. A sewar was in charge of state meals, a glorified caterer-cum-head waiter. According to the Rev. Slatter, he also accompanied the Queen when hunting. She gave him a pair of gilded iron stirrups, made to accommodate feet in armour. A gentleman from the Gild of Lorimers informed me that the design is Middle Eastern, brought back by Crusaders. I have seen similar stirrups worn by mounted bull-fighters in Portugal. Both stirrups were stolen during the Civil War, but one was evidently recovered, since we have it still. You should have a photo of it with the first edition of this history.
1563 Churchwarden at Whitchurch. On the back of his accounts, as discovered by the Rector in about 1980, he filled a whole page copying out the phrase: Innumerable are the calamities, extremes, annoiances, ingrevances, incommodities and encumbrances wh(ich) evermore accompanneth this mommentarie vale of vannitie. Whether he did this because he was feeling glum, bored or in need of handwriting practice, is not recorded. So that you, however, can practice your reading of secretary hand, I give you this photocopy.
1569 A temporary conveyance of property includes lands in Devon (Tavistock, Tamerton, Lamerton) and Cornwall (St Domenic and Callington), as well as Redinge, New and Old Wyndesor, Whitchurch, Ippesden, North Stoke. But he had frequent lawsuits in connection with these latter properties. In most cases tenants seemed to be suing him, but I have not studied them closely. The
refs. are: 1541 Court of Requests, vol.1, p.132;
1558 Chancery Proceedings, series II, vol.1, pp.56,205,245,246;
1589 Hawe v. Lybbe & Hawe, H.51/16, Chancery Depositions.
c. 1572 married Johane Coker (or Corker, Cockre, Carker, Carter) of Checkenden Oxon. She bore him 10 children and died in 1613. Her will reference is PCC 44 Lawe 1614. There is a copy in the Oxon. Archives.
1574 The principal Visitation. (A herald visited the Lybbes on two other occasions.) From this we know the immediate forebears, their wives and origins. At what time and on what grounds the Lybbes became armigerous, I know not. There is only one child born at the time of this visitation, John. [TFPL, Oct 2013: The printed visitation, published in 1871, has on page 174 two paragraphs which are obviously from different visitations; the first says that Richard of Checkendon and Mary “hath issue John Lybbe, his eldest sonne and heire, and Mary his daughter, both younge”; the second paragraph sters with “Richard Lybbe … son’e and heire of Richard Lybbe, of Checkendon aforesaid, …”. This difference is because, of course, John was born out of wedlock so was not the legal heir. This established that John and Mary were both born by the time of the 1574 visitation.]
1558-1603 Elizabeth reigned. There is no suggestion that Richard suffered from having been a courtier of Bloody Mary (as Sir Thomas Powys suffered from being James II's Attorney General). On the contrary, legend has it that Queen Elizabeth stayed at Hardwick, her bedroom being plastered for this purpose. The ceiling has at its centre a plaster boss showing the Queen, topless. Circling her are, at a respectful distance, other bosses of famous leaders, selected in merry disregard for their dates. They include Julius Caesar and Joshua. Since the Thames was the M4 of its day, it seems at least possible that she stayed there en route to Oxford, say.
1599 He died, and was buried in Whitchurch, with a splendid Elizabethan monument on the wall of the chancel. He and his wife kneel stiffly facing each other. The inscription reads:
Richardus Lybbe
Arm. Dnus de domo ac Manerio Hardwick, sepultus est xi Aug. 1599, fuit e domesticis Mariae Reginae Sewar. Ioanna uxor sepulta 22 Dec. 1613 ex qua sunt geniti duo filii Richardus et Iohannes cum octo filiabus.
Richard has been erroneously termed Sir Richard by some people. I expect this derives from Dnus (Dominus) which can mean Sir. Here, however, it just means lord/master (of the house and manor of Hardwick). Note that John, the elder son, is named second in the above inscription.
His will survives, PCC 75 Kidd 1599, and it is transliterated in Snell's Berkshire Wills. He is described as pr. of Whitchurch, Goring, Chekenden and St Mary's Reading, Maple Durham, Ruely and Ramphiene. [One of you will be inspired to interpret pr. and will let the rest of us know.] He leaves land in North & South Stoke, Chekenden, East Hampstead. [TFPL, Sep 2010: ‘pr’=parishioner.]
Whitchurch Burial Register
"1599 Aug 21 LIB Richard, gent: of Hardwick Manor"
______________________________________________________
In the Oxon visitation of 1566, '74 & 1634, p. 174, he is referred to as:
"Richard Lybb, of Checkendon in Com. Oxon. gent. eldest sonne and heir to Richard maryed Johane, daughter to John Coker of Checkendon, and by her hath yssue John Lybbe, his eldest sonne and heire, and Mary his daughter, both younge."
_______________________________________________________
TFPL, Sep 2004, Found on Ancestry.com:
England: Canterbury - Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1584-1604
1584 to 1604.
County: General
Country: England
1599 Lybbe, Richard, gent., Hardwick, Oxon 75 Kidd
_____________________
In “The names of the nobility, etc who contributed to the defence of this country at the time of the Spanish invasion in 1588”, pub 1798, there is, p. 46:
OXON
...
March ... Richard Lybbe 9 die Marcii . . . 50l
_____________________
Will notes for Richard Lybbe 'The Sewar'
Will of Richard Lybbe, Gentleman of Hardwick, Oxfordshire 23 October 1599 PROB 11/94
Notes for Richard & Johanne (Family)
If he was born in 1525, being 75 at death in 1599, he would have been around 47 at marriage in c.1572. His wife was significantly younger that this as she went on producing children until 1585 (Anne’s birth) or so. I therefore wonder if he had a previous wife, though if so there were no children. He would have inherited Hardwick on his father’s death in 1527 when he was a mere 2. If he joined Q Mary at the start of her reign in 1553, he would have been 18 and then 23 when she died. What was he doing between the ages of 23 and 47?
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